Lights Out's NHL Series

[Lights Out]

You all may remember that I did an NFL redesign last summer. Well, now I'm embarking on a new challenge - the NHL. First thing's first, here are the rules I set for my redesign.

1. Out with Reebok Edge, in with CCM: The Edge template is ugly, clunky, and stifles creativity. Therefore, I went back to the old, traditional hockey sweater template that was fine the way it was.

2. Unique color schemes and templates whenever possible: Because hockey is so different from the "Big Three" sports, I wanted to further that difference by using unique color schemes and templates.

I have completed the first five teams - Tampa Bay, Boston, Philadelphia, Edmonton, and Washington.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

I mixed traditional striping with a hidden thunderbolt, while also using a unique "stormy" color scheme, inspired by the Seattle Seahawks as well as by several bluish/greenish/greyish colors I found on Colourlovers. The victory stripes remain but are not pictured.

BOSTON BRUINS

Firstly, I replaced black with brown because I thought it looked distinctive and classic. For the normal home and away, I based their look off the classic Wheat Kings sweaters with some modifications, while the third jersey borrows heavily from the Chilliwack Bruins.

[Lights Out]

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

I always liked the Philadelphia Phantoms' use of purple and orange, so I replaced the black in the Flyers' scheme with purple. I drew inspiration from their first Edge template, although I made a few tweaks - most notably, a modernized callback to the classic contrasting nameplate. Note the unique captain patch.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

Back to the old color scheme (with less black), the Weagle is used as the primary logo, and the hem striping is based on the Washington DC flag.

EDMONTON OILERS

This is probably my most ambitious redesign yet. I went with new logos, brought back the '90s color scheme, but replaced the distracting red with a more neutral, industrial-looking bluish-silver. The sleeve striping is supposed to look like a drop of oil.

Thoughts?

[IceCap]

It's not traditional, and I don't know if I'd like it in actuality, but as a concept that Flyers look is simply stunning.

I'm not sure if the custom C would work though. The Flames tried to be cute like that. It just looked off. Other then that though, I love the way the Flyers turned out.

[Shumway]

Aside from the Flyers' set, I think all of these could just a bit more contrast between the colors. While I like the idea of using unique color schemes, I think black may actually enhance some of these. That said, I'll break each one down...

Tampa: I'm digging the dual blues, but I think pushing the dark blue a little darker or making the lightest blue white may should help this one out. I like the bolt stripes, although i think the middle "bolt" part should be the lightest color on the home jersey.

Boston: Hate to be the "Needs stripes." guy here, but uh...it needs some stripes. I like the old school theme, but it's just a bit too plain here. It kind of looks like the simple jerseys you buy to outfit your rec league team as it is now. On the third, I think the gradient kind of ruins the old school vibe given off by the home and road. Maybe that's your intention.

Philly: Really bright, but I like the purple. The captain's "C" is a nice touch...maybe a little overkill, but I kind of like it. I'd say this is your best set in this series.

Washington: Again, some more contrast may help. The colors balance reasonably well, but I think a drop shadow similar to the numbers may help the logo stand out. The black could probably be pushed a little bit more as well. The collar looks really cool, but the black's really sparingly used elsewhere in the set. The eagle logo looks great as a crest.

Edmonton: The little "E" is driving me nuts. The gray/silver and the copper don't separate a whole lot. I'd suggest putting a thin navy stripe between the two. The sleeves could probably use something, even if it's just some more blue around the cuff area. The copper's just a bit too much right now.

[Fox]

Tampa Bay: Interesting color scheme, looks pretty good though.

Boston: Switching from black to brown is OK, but that logo is the worst in Bruins history. If you don't want to use the current one, you could always use the classic spoked B. I think that the striping is honestly a downgrade. Also, I like the idea of a yellow alternate, but the gradient seems pretty random and doesn't add much to the uniform IMO.

Philly: I initially thought that it was orange and royal blue, which I disliked. Purple, however, is a good idea. No complaints, I would just darken the purple so it's clear that it's purple on all monitors.

Capitals: Very nice. The only thing that I'm not a fan of are the really subtle drop shadows. Unnecessary IMO.

Oilers: Very creative, looks pretty good.

As always, nice work.

[nash61]

Edmonton: The little "E" is driving me nuts.

"As we like to call them, 'The Little E's'."

[sparkychewbarky]

This is great stuff LO. I should have checked it out earlier.

I'm with you. I'm an old CCM guy.

Their 'Paul Henderson" helmet design is over 40 years old, and it's still the best looking helmet out there.

And what's with piping and tight-fitting sweaters in hockey?

Maybe in football, but Hockey?!!! Give me a break!

Hockey sweaters need to be loose fitting and flappin' in the breeze, with big honkin' graphics and stripes!

Anyway, I really like the Philly sweaters.

The Cap's have a nice San Diego Charger electric feel to the colour scheme. I like it.

I think that the Bolts, Oilers, and Bruins could use a little more contrast, IMO.

I like that you're doing some 'exploring' and generating some good discussion.

I'm gonna put this on my "check-it-out-on-a-regular-basis" list.

Oh by the way, thanks for the tip on "Colourlovers".

I went there and did the "sports" search,

and was rewarded with tons of both traditional and unique colour combos.

Great for guys like me who suck at putting colours together!

[wildwing64]

Lightning: That's a really cool idea for an identity, but there's not enough contrast between the colours. Maybe replace that paler blue with white to break up the monotony.

Bruins: The current version of the primary logo would work much better here I think. Also, the yellow nameplate on the white jersey would bleed in too much, you should probably make that brown instead.

Flyers: Not sure how I feel about the orange and purple combo - and I'm fairly certain that Flyers fans wouldn't accept it - but that template is pretty awesome, and would be a great way to update the Flyers, getting them away from their current outdated look and welcome them back to the 21st century.

Capitals: I can't really add much here. A very cool, bold and unique look for the Caps. Their current look sort of works for them, but this is a huge improvement regardless of colour scheme.

Oilers: Nice update to the logo, although that little "E" would take same time getting used to. I don't think that much bronze/copper on the jersey would look good in practise.

[Lights Out]

Thanks for the critique, guys. Weirdly, I thought the Flyers would be the worst-recieved out of all of them, but apparently it's the most popular one. Go figure.

I think what I'll do is finish the whole league first, then go back and make tweaks at the end.

[bleuet]

I like people who try to innovate. Great start.

IMHO (no expert)

TB: Love your stripes/bolts. Not enough contrast

BOS: No offence. I don't like them.

PHI: I would love to see black instead of purple. The design looks great

WAS: More contrast and you got it

EDM: I am not sure about the logo but appreciate you try something else then the current. Maybe another font? Jersey: I am not sure about the colours. More contrast and bit more stripes (I feel something is missing) but good start.

[IceCap]

The rest....

Tampa Bay: I love the look of it, but the colours are to similar. I would try going with a simple navy/powder blue/white theme. True, it's been done to death in the NHL as of late, but this is your concept series. You could make that colour scheme unique to the Lightning.

Boston: The execution is spot on, but I've never liked the Bruins in brown. Sorry, it's just never been my thing.

Washington: The drop shadows make everything muddy. Especially the stars along the waist and the sleeve numbers. I would go with a standard black outline. I love the idea behind the waist stripes though.

Edmonton: Sorry, I don't like the new primary. It's just...bland. It's trying to be the same as the classic logo but it just seems generic. I would go with the cog wheel/oil drop alternate as the primary and leave the shoulders logo-less. The oil drop pattern of the sleeve design means any logo that also contains an oil drop is going to be redundant.

[Morgan33]

Nice to see some creativity with these. You really thought out of the box and the decision to go back to the CCM template was on point. Tampa Bay is my favourite of the bunch. So much better than the uninspired junk they're currently wearing.

[Lights Out]

Here are the next two teams.

LOS ANGELES KINGS

The Kings go back to their classic purple and gold colors for the regular home and away uniforms, complete with gold away sweaters. The primary crest is a modified version of the crown from the Burger King logo, while the shoulder patch is a recolored version of the Dodgers' hat logo, with the L replaced by a hockey stick. The third ditches purple and gold for red, white, and blue, to pay homage to the Staples Center's "other" inhabitants, the Clippers. The striping, which recalls the old Manchester Monarchs sweaters, is supposed to imitate a crown, as well.

ST. LOUIS BLUES

The regular home and road are a mix of the last set before the switch to the Edge template and the Gretzky-era sweaters. The alternate is a more modern design based on the St. Louis Arch. (Apologies for the choppiness, that occurred during resizing.)

Thoughts?

[knnhrvy16]

St. Louis is beautiful. A very great idea and mixing of eras, fantastic. The arch striping on the alternate is brilliant. No complaints whatsoever for the Blues.

For Los Angeles, the home and away is perfect (great route going with the Monarchs stripes), and serves as a wonderful modernization of the throwback look. The alternate, on the other hand, doesn't work for me - full time, at least. I know the Clippers are your team and all and it's definitely a neat nod and idea (and well done, in all honesty), but something like that would better serve as a one-off. I'd go a different route with the alt. Great idea, though.

Keep up the great work, this is a solid series. I applaud your creativity and the attention you've given to the design of each team.

[Morgan33]

Only thing I don't like about the Blues set is the number font.

[ns80]

Nice!

[OhioSportsMan61]

i really like the st. louis set, especially the alt!

[officeglenn]

Tampa Bay: As noted by others, not nearly enough contrast between the shades of blue. The light one needs to be lighter and the dark one needs to be darker. Dig the striping, though.

Boston: Not liking this at all. Feels too ... minimalist. Like there are large swaths of area where there's nothing going on.

Philadelphia: Pretty radical change, and having done a Flyers concept in the past, I know Flyers fans aren't keen on change. But I'm not a Flyers fan, and I could get behind this.

Washington: Love the DC flag striping. But I think it needs a little more black to make the blue and gold pop. It's hard for the blue Weagle to stand out against the blue jersey as well.

Edmonton: Again, feels very minimalist. I appreciate what you were going for with the sleeve pattern, but I always think those sorts of things look better on paper than in practice. Would rather see blue rather than copper on the sleeves on the white jersey.

Los Angeles: Don't mind the jersey striping so much. Would much prefer the current crown, though. Anyone else and I would be going off on the third, but since it's you, Lights Out, I'll just roll my eyes and move on.

St. Louis: Neat stuff. Dig the number font. Sleeve numbers should be bigger, though, and maybe moved up above the staff lines; they're not very legible on the white jersey. Third is a neat idea, and I'm glad you didn't try to do the arch again on the back. I think it might look better in action on the ice than it does on paper.

[Lights Out]

I used to like the Kings' current crown, too... but then someone on here mentioned that there was a goofy-looking smiley face hidden in it. I can't unsee it now.

[Windstorm]

Good work, those are some really unique concepts! I especially like Tampa, Washington, and Boston's home/away. I'm not sure about a few of them, like Boston's third and LA's third, but I love the creativity.